Lever-operated rifle with integral breech-bolt and magazine



March 19, 1957 w. SMITH LEVER-OPERATED RIFLE WITH INTEGRAL BREECH-BOLT AND MAGAZINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 20, 1954 INVENTOR.

ATTY.

March 19, 1957 w. l. SMITH LEVER-OPERATED RIFLE WITH INTEGRAL BREECH-BOLT AND MAGAZINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 20, 1954 IN V EN TOR.

WILFRED vl. SMITH. 'fm/m5@ ATTY.

LEVER-OPERATED RIFLE WITH INTEGRAL BREECH-BGLT AND MAGAZINE Application December 20, 1954, Serial No. 47 6,145

1 Claim. (Cl. 42-17) This invention relates to a magazine riile having manually-operated reloading mechanism.

It is the general Object of the present invention to provide an improved leveraction control for the reloading mechanism of a magazine rie.

More specifically, I provide lever-action control for a reloading mechanism of the general type shown in the prior patent to Davidson, No. 2,596,841 issued May 13, 1952.

My invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appendedV claim.

A preferred form of the invention is shown in the drawings, in which Fig. l is a partial side elevation, partly in section, of a rifle embodying my invention and cocked for firing;

Fig, 2 is a View similar to Fig. 1 but showing the parts after firing;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation, partly in section and showing the unitary breech-bolt, magazine tube and associated parts;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional View, taken along the line 4 4 in` Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view, taken along the line 5-5 in Fig. 1; n i

Fig. 6 is a` transverse sectional View, taken along the line 6 6 vin Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a sideelevation of an action rod;

Fig. 8 is a plan view thereof; and

Fig. 9 is an end elevation, looking in the direction of the arrow 9 in Fig. 7. e

Referring to the drawings, my improved rie cornprises the usual stock 20 (Fig. l), barrel 21, breech-bolt receiver 22 assembled with said barrel, trigger 23, sear 25 and safety lever 26.

The sear 2 5 is mounted on a fixed pivot 27 and is swung upward to engaging position by a spring 28. The sear engages an annular shoulder 30a `at the rearend of a hammer 3l) which is slidable in the receiver 22. The sear holds the hammer normally in rearward position,` with the helical hammer spring 32 in compression.

As the trigger 23 is pulled and moves clockwise, an upward extension 33 of the trigger engages a depending portion 34 (Fig. 1) of the sear and swings the sear downward, thus releasing the hammer. An offset portion 35 of the spring 28 engages a rear face of the trigger, thus tensioning the scar-engaging portion of the spring and keeping the trigger 23 in contact with the sear 25.

The safety lever 26 (Fig. 2) is pivoted at 40 in an action housing 44 (Fig. 5), and said lever has a depending arm 45 (Fig. l) adapted to overlie a shoulder 46 on the trigger 23 when the safety lever 26 is in rear position. The trigger 23 is pivoted at 43 in the action housing 44.

A spring-retaining knob 51 is secured in the rear end of the receiver 22 and has a forwardly-extending pin 53 (Fig. 1) which centers the hammer spring 32.

States rPatentY 2,785,492 VPatented Mar. 19, 195.7

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The parts thus far described are of more or less usual construction and do not specifically embody the present invention.

A breech-bolt 55 (Fig. 3) is permanently assembled with'a magazine tube 57 which extends loosely through an annular support (not shown) secured to the under side of the barrel 21 and toward the front end thereof. The parts 55 and 57 form a unitary structure which is both swingable and slidable relative to said annular support.

The magazine tube 57 is preferably a force fit'in the front end of the breech-bolt 55 and houses an inner magazine tube 5S having a knob 59. VThe inner tube 58 is removably retained in the tube 57 by a bayonet lock connection of usual type.

A cartridge follower 60 (Fig. 3) and spring 61 are housed in the inner tube 58, and the rear end of the tube is slightly contracted as indicated at 63 to prevent escape of the slightly enlarged and ball-shapedY end 64 of the cartridge follower 60.

The outer magazine tube 57 (Fig. `3) has an opening 66 in its lower side, through which cartridges C may be inserted when the inner tube 58 is released and drawn forward beyond the slot 66.

The receiver 22 (Fig. l) has an opening 70 in its upper face, which opening provides a rear shoulder 71 which abuts the rear end of the breech-bolt 55. The breech bolt -55 is provided with a cam slot 72 (Figs. 2 and 3) into which projects a pin 73 (Figs. 2 and 8) fixed near the rear end of an action rod 74.

A hand-operated action lever 77 is mounted on a pivot 77a, and a pin 77b (Fig. l) projects into a slot 78 in an offset end portion 74a of the action rod 74 (Fig. 7).

As the action lever 77 and action rod 74 are moved forward after a fresh cartridge is presented, Vthe pin 73 in the rod 74 presses against the front inclined wall of the cam slot 72 and tends to lift the breech-bolt. As soon as the breech-bolt clears the receiver shoulder 71, the breech-bolt is lifted by the pin 73 and the pin enters the horizontal arm of the slot, thus locking the breech-bolt in raised and tiring position. This combined forward end upward movement of the breech-bolt also inserts the fresh cartridge C into the rifle barrel 21 and presents the firing-pin 79 Vin operative relation to the hammer 30.

The trigger 23 may then be pulled if the safety lever 26 has been released. The trigger will then depress the sear 25 and thus release the hammer 30. The hammer 30 then moves forward and strikes the ring-pin 79 (Fig. 3) loosely held in a recess in the breech-bolt 55 by a cross-pin 79a (Fig. 4), and positioned rearward by a light coil spring.

The firing-pin has a reduced end portion 79b (Fig. 3) which is aligned with a recess Stia (Fig. 1) in the front end of the hammer 30 so long as the breech-bolt is in lowered or rearwardly withdrawn position. In such lowered position, therefore, the firing-pin cannot be moved by the hammer.

When the breech-bolt 55 is in raised and firing position, however, the firing-pin 79 is out of alignment with the recess 39a in the hammer 3i), and a rim portion of the hammer 3) will be aligned with the pin 79. Thus a cartridge can be tired only when the breech-bolt is fully raised and in ring position.

As the action lever 77 is swung forward to reloading position, the pin 73 (Fig. 2) will enter the upwardly inclined rear end of the cam slot 72 and will cause the breech-bolt 55 to move downward to clear the receiver shoulder 71. The breech-bolt 55 will thereafter be moved rearward to the reloading position shown in Fig. 2. The pin 73 has substantial lost motion in the slot 72.

A lifter lever Si) (Figs. 1 and 3) is pivoted at 81 (Fig. 5) in an upright slot in the breech-bolt 55. The lever 80 has an end portion 83 (Fig. 3) which underlies the cartridge C' which is in loading position. The lifter lever 80 is returned to lowered position by engagement of a depending arm 84 with the front end or" a slot in the lower face of the action housing 44 as the breech-bolt 55 is moved forward to the firing position shown in Fig. l. Y

As the breech-bolt is shifted downward and rearward from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the position shown in Fig. 2, the arm 84 is engaged by the rear edge of the slot in the housing 44 and the end portion S3 of the lever 80 is pushed abruptly upward to raise the new cartridge C and to simultaneously eject theempty cartridge C2. As the breech-bolt is thereafter moved forward and upward to the position shown in Fig. 1, the lifter lever 80 is moved downward as above described to the position shown in Fig. 2, so that the next cartridge C may be pushed into loading position by the cartridge follower 60 and spring 61.

A locking lever 90 (Fig. 1) is pivoted on the stud 27 in the action casing 44, which lstud also provides a pivot for the sear 25. The lever 90 has a depending arm 91 which extends downward through a slot in the action leasing 44 and stock 20, and also has a rearwardly eX- tending offset arm 92 which underlies a pin 33a in the portion 33 of the trigger 23. At its forward end,-the lever 90 has an extension 93 with a shoulder 94 and a side ange 95 (Fig. l).

, The sear spring 28 previously described has an arm 96 which engages a notch in the extension 93 of the lever 90 and which tends to move the lever 90 anti-clockwise to locking position, with the shoulder 94 of the lever raised into the path of the action rod 74 as shown in Fig. 1. The upper front corner of the shoulder 94 is beveled or rounded and exerts a cam action on the rear end of the action rod 74, thus insuring that the rod 74 and breech-bolt 55 are moved to their extreme forward positions before the trigger can be operated.

The locking lever 90 may be released by manua1 rearward movement of the depending arm 91 of the lever, and such rearward movement allows rearward manual movement of the action rod 74 and breech-bolt 55 when the hammer 36 is in cocked or rear position. The trigger 23 Vis then held from movement by the pin 33a until the lever 90 is returned to locking position.

A spring 100 is mounted on the lifter lever pivot 81 (Fig. 3). The spring 100 has an arm 102 resting on the side flange 9S of the locking lever 90 and has another arm extending upward and rearward of the breech-bolt 5S. When the hammer 30 is released and moves forward to strike the firing-pin, the end of the hammer presses against the upwardly extending arm of the spring 100 and places the spring under tension to depress the locking lever 90 as shown in Fig. 2. This spring action is strong enough to overcome the sear spring 28 and thus allows the action rod 74 to be moved backward manually by the action lever 77 to eject the empty cartridge C2 (Fig. 3) and to present a fresh ucartridge C in loading position.

When the locking lever 90 is thus moved downward to free the action rod 74 and breech-bolt 55, the back projection 92 of the locking lever 90 moves up under the trigger pin 33a, so that the sear cannot be depressed to release the hammer while the breech-bolt is out of firing position. The trigger is moved anti-clockwise by the spring 28 acting through a cam surface of the sear and against the pin 33a.

Operation The specific operation of the several separate features of the invention has been set forth in connection with the description thereof, but the general operation of the invention may be briefly described as follows: Y

Assuming that the inner magazine tube 58 contains cartridges and that the gun is not loaded, the operator swings the action lever 77 forward and thus slides the action rod 74, together with the magazine tube and other attached parts, rearward or toward the butt. This depresses and withdraws the breech-bolt 55 from the barrel 21 and allows a new cartridge to be moved upward into alignment with the barrel 21, at the same time ejecting the empty cartridge shell, if any.

The action rod 77 is then returned to its normal and rearward position and by such movement returns the breech-bolt also to its original position. During this latter movement, the breech-bolt slides the new cartridge forward into firing position in the barrel 21.v The breechbolt is then locked in cartridge ring position.

The trigger 23 may then be pulled and will depress the scar 25 and thus release the hammer 30. The hammer 30 then moves forward and strikes the tiring pin 79 (Fig. 3).

When the breech-bolt 55 is raised and Ain firing position, the tiring pin is out of alignment with the recess 30a in the hammer 30, and the rim portion of the hammer 30 will be aligned with the pin 79. Thus the inserted cartridge may be red by a blow on the firing pin 79.

It will be evident that my improved lever-action control involves relatively few and simple parts and that the reloading operation may be easily and quickly performed.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claim, but what I claim is: Y

In a magazine rifle, a breech-bolt receiver, a rifle barrel fixed thereto, said receiver having a longitudinal passage with a front top opening and havingan abrupt rear shoulder for said opening, a breech-bolt slidable longitudinally and swingable vertically in said passageV and opening, a magazine tube fixed to said breech-bolt and swingable therewith, means including a cam slot in said breech-bolt to lower and raise said breech-bolt and the associated end of the magazine tube, an action rod sildable alongside said magazine tube and having a pin coacting with said cam slot, and a swingable action lever pivoted to a xed depending part of said rie and having a pin and transverse slot connection to the rear end of said action rod, whereby manual swinging movement of said action lever will slide said action rod rearward and forward relative to said magazine tube and will correspondingly move the rst-mentioned pin rearward and forward in said cam slot and will thereby lower and raise said breech-bolt relative to said receiver.

References Cited in the rile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,479,393 Minasolav Aug. 16, 1949 2,501,137 Minasola Mar. 21, 1950 2,596,841 Davidson May 13, 1952 

